


Many happy returns, etc.

by irisdouglasiana



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, we may also reorganize the spice rack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 00:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10955472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irisdouglasiana/pseuds/irisdouglasiana
Summary: In no uncertain terms, Peggy had told Daniel that she didn’t want a big fuss over her thirtieth birthday, no grand gestures and certainly no surprise parties, and he said, Sure, Peg, if that’s what you want—and then he shrugged and turned back to the surveillance photos he was working on. The way he said it was a little too glib and a little too quick, and it immediately made her suspicious. But if that was how he wanted to go about it, she reasoned, two could play this game.





	Many happy returns, etc.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Paeonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paeonia/gifts).



In no uncertain terms, Peggy had told Daniel that she didn’t want a big fuss over her thirtieth birthday, no grand gestures and certainly no surprise parties, and he said, Sure, Peg, if that’s what you want—and then he shrugged and turned back to the surveillance photos he was working on. The way he said it was a little too glib and a little too quick, and it immediately made her suspicious. But if that was how he wanted to go about it, she reasoned, two could play this game...

And whatever Daniel was planning, she was certain that the Jarvises had to be involved. As she stopped by Howard’s mansion that evening to pick up her daughter, she made a casual inquiry into their plans for the coming week.

“Nothing at all,” Mr. Jarvis blurted and nearly dropped the toddler.

“We’ll be picking up Mr. Stark from the airport after he returns from Cancun,” Ana Jarvis stepped in smoothly. She grabbed her husband by the elbow. “Oh, and the veterinarian will be here to give Buddy a checkup—you remember Buddy, don’t you, Miss Carter? Mr. Stark’s koala?”

Buddy had nearly bitten off Jack’s nose on one occasion and chased Jason Wilkes up a tree on another. “Of course.” Peggy took Maria from Mr. Jarvis and kissed her forehead. “So, ah…nothing else planned, then?”

“We may also reorganize the spice rack,” Ana said with a bland little smile.

That line of questioning was clearly useless, so three days before her birthday, Peggy decided it was time for other tactics. She discreetly tailed Jack after he left the office, following him from the bank to a diner to a bar, and she was nearly ready to give up on the whole business when he left the bar and ducked into a general store. He emerged a few minutes later with a roll of butcher paper tucked under his arm and a small tin of paint in his hand. Instead of getting into his car, he turned and headed right towards the newsstand where she had been making her observations. She pulled the newspaper up to hide her face, but it was too late.

“Evening, Marge,” Jack drawled. “You could’ve joined me for dinner, you know. Though I wouldn’t want to make Sousa jealous.”

She lowered the newspaper. “I don’t know what you mean. I just stepped out to get the paper.”

“Uh huh. In a wig?”

She patted at her blond wig sheepishly and changed the subject. “What is the butcher paper for?”

“This?” he shrugged. “Just repainting the walls at my place. Needed something to put down on the floor.”

“Repainting the walls,” she repeated skeptically.

He raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, that’s what I just said, Marge. Now you have a good night.”

And that was that. With time running out, Peggy was starting to think that maybe there really wasn’t a surprise party after all. Of course, she had told Daniel herself she didn’t want one, but now that her birthday had almost arrived, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Then she felt silly for her disappointment: it was just one birthday, and she would have plenty more. Who had time for parties anyway?

She had managed to fully rationalize all of this in her head, and then, in the late afternoon the day before her birthday, Daniel nonchalantly mentioned to her that he could go pick up Maria from the Jarvises that evening; he needed to spend a few hours over there anyway while Howard was taking some measurements for a new prosthetic.

“Oh. I can go with you; I’d like to see it.”

“No, that’s fine,” he said quickly. “You should take the time to get caught up on work. Don’t worry about it.”

“Very well,” she said with an arched eyebrow.  

Peggy waited a full twenty minutes after Daniel left before packing up and following him to Howard’s mansion. She parked outside the gate, disabled the alarm on the fence, climbed over, and made her approach from the back. She ducked into the hedges and pushed her way through until she could get a decent view of the foyer. Rose and Jack were hanging a banner across the entrance, made out of the same butcher paper she had seen Jack buying just a few days before, while Howard directed them. Rose accidentally dropped her end and the banner fluttered to the floor, giving Peggy a glimpse of the first word—HAPPY, drawn out in red paint in Jack’s awful handwriting.

Satisfied, Peggy backed out of the bushes and tiptoed around to the porch connected to the kitchen. She peered through the hedges to see Daniel and Mr. Jarvis frosting a cake while Ana bounced Maria up and down in her arms. The baby giggled and Peggy’s heart ached with happiness. She thought of birthdays past: her twentieth, behind enemy lines, not knowing whether she would live to see the next month, let alone her next birthday; her twenty-fifth, a few months into her tenure at the SSR office in New York, which she spent alone. Tomorrow she would be thirty, and there were people in her life who wanted to celebrate it with her.

Inside, Ana and Daniel had switched places, and now Daniel held Maria in the crook of his arm, smiling and saying something to her that Peggy couldn’t hear. Her hand drifted down to her stomach. She hadn’t yet told him that she was pregnant again; she’d been waiting for the right moment. Perhaps after the party...

She took a step back and ran smack into Bernard, who she hadn’t even heard come up behind her. The flamingo squawked, flapped its wings, and took off, and Peggy tripped and landed on her rear, somehow triggering an alarm in the process.

“Halt,” Mr. Jarvis’s voice suddenly blared over the loudspeaker. “You are trespassing. Leave the premises immediately, or the proper authorities will be contacted.” Back in the kitchen, Peggy could hear Maria start to wail as the message repeated itself.

“Bloody hell,” she groaned as Daniel and the Jarvises burst out onto the porch, quickly followed by Jack, Rose, and Howard.

“What, no wig this time?” Jack teased as he gave her a hand up.

She was certain her face was bright red. “I suppose I’ve ruined your surprise,” she said ruefully, taking the crying toddler from Daniel and patting her on the back.

Daniel stepped forward and brushed a few leaves out of her hair. “I know you said you didn’t want a surprise party. I hope you don't mind," he apologized.

“Not at all,” she said. Maria, no longer crying, squirmed in Peggy’s arms and she set her back down. “Perhaps we can celebrate one day early?”

“An excellent suggestion,” Mr. Jarvis said, taking the toddler by the arm before she could escape. “Little Miss Sousa and I will get the candles for the cake.”

“And I’ll get the tequila,” Howard announced as he sauntered back into the house, followed by the Jarvises, Jack, and Rose. “Brought back a bottle from Mexico just for you.”

That left just Daniel and Peggy standing on the porch. She reached out and took his hand. “Thank you,” she sighed. “I’m lucky to have you all.”

“I think we’re the lucky ones, to have you,” he grinned, and pulled her close for a kiss. “Happy birthday, Peg.”   


End file.
